Georgia Closes State Archives to the Public?

The sounds of "With a rebel yell, she cried more, more, more" are resounding in the streets and mailboxes of genealogists and family history seekers everywhere. Without our past, we have no future.  Step up and save the Georgia Archives for the public.  Don't let Georgia be the ONLY state in the union with no public access and extremely limited private access!

How can the Secretary of State Brian Kemp close the Georgia State Archives to the public?  And this is in the same week that Governor Nathan Deal proclaimed October as Georgia Archives Month.

There is much to read on this subject.  The best way to do so is to follow along with the Friends of the Georgia Archives as they spearhead the fight to save the archives.



Below is the call to battle from the Friends of Georgia Archives and History:

ACTION ALERT: SAVE THE GEORGIA ARCHIVES!
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has announced that the Georgia Archives will be CLOSED to all public access beginning November 1, 2012. He cites as reason the requirement for a 3 % budget reduction for all state agencies. Secretary Kemp has chosen to take the required cut of $750,000 entirely and only from the State Archives. In addition to the elimination of public access, staff reductions concerning the ten remaining staff are planned and will also be announced soon.

This action further cripples an institution that was among the first state archives established (1918), has won many awards for its programs and state-of-the-art archival facility, and has been a respected leader in archives, government records programs, and research use. Over the past decade, however, the Georgia Archives has been eviscerated by regular budget cuts, reductions in staff and reductions in public hours to 2 days a week. Now Secretary Kemp wants to eliminate even those few hours of access for Georgia’s citizens, making Georgia Archives the only state archives without public access hours.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Tell the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Georgia Legislature to reverse this devastating decision. Write, call or visit and ask them to:

Restore a minimum of $1 million to the Georgia Archives budget to return its operations to 5 days a week of public access hours and eliminate projected staff reductions.

Reverse the Secretary of State’s proposed budget cuts to the Archives by November 1 to ensure uninterrupted service to the public.

When you write/call or visit, focus on a few of the points below. Put this in your own words, and use your own examples, particularly if you are a citizen of Georgia:

WHAT SHOULD YOU SAY?
Points to make in letters/phone calls or visits:

1. The Secretary of State was directed to reduce his budget expenditures by 3%. The entire sum needed to accomplish that has been taken from the Archives budget alone and will result in the termination of all public hours. The proposed “access by appointment…limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees” effectively denies access based on “reasonable time and place” for inspection of public records as required by Georgia law.

2. Points to make regarding the importance of access to government records for accountability and legal purposes:
• This deprives citizens of regular and predictable access, as mandated in the Georgia Records Act, Title 50, Chapter 18, Article 4, section 70(b) of the Georgia Annotated Code that all public records “shall be open for a personal inspection by any citizen of this state at a reasonable time and place, and those in charge of such records shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen.”
• It is contrary to the practice of government transparency by depriving citizens of predictable and ready access to the records that are essential to providing evidence of government accountability.
• It deprives citizens, as well as Georgia’s own government, of access to records needed to support due process of law. The Georgia Archives holdings have been used for a range of court cases including land claims, boundary disputes, utility right-of-way, and claims against state agencies.
• Access to records is essential to avoid costly litigation that will result if records cannot be located or accessed.

3. Points to make regarding the importance of access to government records for research
purposes:
• As the Civil War Sesquicentennial begins, researchers need access to the historical record in the Georgia Archives to provide accurate, factual evidence of that experience. Many of Georgia’s governmental records were destroyed during Sherman’s March; closing the Archives similarly deprives Georgians of access to their heritage—but this time the fault does not lie with an invading army, but with Georgia officials themselves.
• The Georgia Archives holds records actively sought by genealogists and family historians; in particular, they provide essential evidence for African-American history and genealogical research not available in many private historical collections.
• The Georgia Archives has been an essential resource for environmental research and activities including efforts to reintroduce the American chestnut tree in the state and issues relating to pollution.
• The Georgia Archives has been the site of research for television and films, including the popular NBC series “Who Do You Think You Are” segments with Paula Deen and Spike Lee, as well as Emmy award-winner Ben Loeterman’s documentary “People v. Leo Frank.”

Governor Nathan Deal
206 Washington Street Suite 203, State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334
Phone: 404-656-1776

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle
240 State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 TEL: 404-656-5030 FAX: 404-656-6739

Secretary of State Brian Kemp
214 State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 Phone: 404-656-2881 Fax: 404-656-0513

Individual Georgia legislators: find specific legislators via Society of Georgia Archivists site: http://soga.org/involvement/legislative

If you’ve signed an online petition, that’s helpful, but direct contact is even more effective. For Georgians, a visit to your local legislator will have even more impact. There has been a great deal of attention on radio, newspapers, television and the Internet. In a democracy, however, nothing speaks to the governor or elected officials like direct contact from individuals. Speak up for the Georgia Archives.

Write, call or plan a visit today!
Please send copies of your letter, information on contacts, or any questions to:
Coalition to Preserve the Georgia Archives Co-Chair Kaye L. Minchew: kaye@trouparchives.org

THE COALITION TO PRESERVE THE GEORGIA ARCHIVES
Includes representatives of:
Friends of the Georgia Archives; Association of County Commissioners of Georgia; Georgia Salzburger Society, Greater Atlanta Chapter; Society of Georgia Archivists; Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board; Georgia Genealogical Society; Georgia Professional Genealogists; Association of Professional Genealogists, Georgia Chapter; Cobb County Genealogical Society; Troup County Historical Society; Georgia State Society, Daughters of the American Revolution

For updated information go to: www.FOGAH.org

Dot Moore to Speak at Margaret Mitchell Research Center Nov 21

The Fayette County Historical Society is pleased to announce that regional, award-winning author, Dot Moore, will be the speaker at the Sunday, November 21st meeting at the Margaret Mitchell Research Center, 195 Lee Street in Fayetteville from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

“Never was there a more famous seer than Mayhayley Lancaster of Heard County, whose role in the 1948 John Wallace murder trial secured her local reputation and launched a national one.” — Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This award-winning biography, and creative work of non-fiction, deals with the unusual and eccentric life of Mayhayley Lancaster. Moore’s childhood memories and encounters with Lancaster spurred her to write Oracle of the Ages: Reflections on the Curious Life of Fortune Teller Mayhayley Lancaster.

She is following Oracle of the Ages with a modern Jekyll and Hyde tale: No Remorse: The Rise and Fall of John Wallace. Her newest book is set for release in December.

Should a man be defined by his worst deed? This is the question explored by Dot Moore in No Remorse: The Rise and Fall of John Wallace, an examination of the notorious trial, conviction and execution of Wallace for the 1948 murder of William Turner in a small Georgia town. In this compelling work Moore paints the portrait of a complex man, capable of great compassion yet haunted by a demonic temper. Painstakingly researched, the book presents new information about the life of John Wallace and the trial that convicted him of murder.

The story of John Wallace was pieced together from records discovered in courthouses, at the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles in Atlanta; from Confession of a Criminal Lawyer by Wallace’s chief attorney A. L. Henson, and stories told by popular news writer Celestine Sibley. In the course of her investigation, Moore also discovered accounts of the trial in three major crime magazines and in accounts from the newspapers of LaGrange, Newnan, Columbus and Atlanta, Georgia. The book, Murder In Coweta County by Margaret Anne Barnes, provided additional information. But the most important new source discovered by Moore was a cache of letters written by Wallace and kept by a neighbor for more than fifty years. Through his correspondence with friends and family, the story of this emotionally conflicted man emerges.

Dot Moore grew up in Heard County, Georgia. She is a retired educator and political activist, and lives in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Fayette County Historical Society monthly meetings feature a speaker of local interest and the community is welcome. The Margaret Mitchell Research Center at 195 Lee Street in Fayetteville is open to the public weekly: Tuesday 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., Thursday, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

University of Georgia paleontologist helps unravel strange lack of fossils in Antarctica; results could lead to reappraisal of continent’s past

The sun never set. Sally Walker, a paleontologist from the University of Georgia, could walk outside the scientific research station any time, day or night, into a dazzling world of dry valleys and vistas of ice. But the sun, circling the sky, was always visible on the surface of the cold Earth.

Welcome to Antarctica, bottom of the world and home to an intriguing mystery that has baffled researchers for years. In frigid waters off the continental coast, there are large numbers of species that flourish, from bizarre serpent starfish to a group of microscopic creatures called foraminifera or forams. And yet, weirdly, there is little evidence of any fossil creatures in seafloor sediments.

Why? That’s the question, but finding the answers is intriguing a team, of which Walker is a principal investigator. The research group, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, isn’t simply wondering about ancient remains of tiny, ice-loving creatures. Answers may help explain everything from the evolution of Antarctic ecosystems to reasons for global warming.

“One of the main questions is how ice affects the presence of fossil invertebrates on the Antarctic seafloor,” said Walker. “But the processes involved are very complex, and unraveling them will take more than a single approach.”

Indeed, Walker is working with two veterans of Antarctic research, Molly Miller of Vanderbilt University and Sam Bowser from the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center. The team was in Antarctica from October to December of last year, during the continent’s “summer,” though that’s a relative term, because wind chills at the team’s research outpost often reached 20 degrees below zero.

Walker, in UGA’s department of geology, part of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, was making her first trip to the frigid continent, but the new research fit right into work on which she’s spent a lifetime: taphonomy, the study of the process of fossilization.

The trip to the bottom of the world is long and arduous. Walker first flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, and then took a flight to Ross Island in Antarctica, the location for more than half a century of McMurdo Station, a thriving scientific research community, especially in the so-called Austral summer, which lasts from October to January.

“MacTown, as McMurdo is called by the inhabitants, is run by the National Science Foundation to investigate a wide range of science in extreme conditions, from physics to biology,” said Walker. “About 1,300 people are there in the Austral summer, with the majority of residents comprising carpenters, food service professionals, technical engineers, helicopter aviation experts and other highly trained support individuals who are essential to achieve high-quality science. Without them, there would be no science.”

From McMurdo, Walker and her team members flew on to a much smaller research site called New Harbor, which is at the mouth of a dry valley, a moraine-filled area of pebbles and soil that fronts on a much-studied frozen bay. Here, they camped in small permanent structures for the duration of their stay.

Just 20 years ago, this was, literally and figuratively, the end of the Earth—barely, if at all, in touch with the rest of the world. Now, the site not only has satellite communications links, it has Wi-Fi so that researchers can use and surf the Internet, even in the field.

The team is thus able under much better circumstances to delve into the abiding mystery of why there are few signs of fauna in the fossil records from cores taken beneath the ice in the bay. The team’s future findings could have widespread significance, said Tom Wagner, program manager of Antarctic Earth Sciences in the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs, which is funding the research.

“It’s important information because it would tell us about past ecosystems while providing another perspective on climate change,” Wagner told The Antarctic Sun, NSF’s online news source for information on science in that icy continent. “It could be that [fossils] aren’t preserved, but it could also mean that we just don’t know how to interpret the records that we have. And that’s what makes this project so exciting—it could lead to a total reappraisal of Antarctica’s past.”

There are many physical and chemical processes that may be involved with the mystery of the missing fossils, said Walker, ranging from the geochemistry of the icy waters to the action of so-called pressure ridges—places where frozen seawater collides with the shores, causing a number of changes in the ecosystems.

While a reappraisal of Antarctica’s past might be seen as enough to learn, much more is at stake, because the answers, when uncovered, could have implications for understanding global warming.

Whatever the team discovers—and it will return in the Austral summer of 2010 to follow up on its work—the science is taking place at one of the most forbidding and gorgeously beautiful places on Earth. Antarctica is the driest, windiest and coldest continent on Earth, but it is also drawing increasing interest from researchers, as each year scientists from as many as 27 different nations conduct experiments not reproducible in any other place in the world.

One thing Walker brought back to Athens has less to do with science than with the amazing individuals who do such important work under in such a remote but staggeringly beautiful place.

“Everyone works like a tightly interwoven civilization despite the extreme weather conditions, cramped dormitories, and lack of privacy,” she said. “It is awe-inspiring to watch and to participate in such an endeavor.”

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National Archives Creates Awards for Excellence in Genealogy

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In celebration of its 75th anniversary, the National Archives announces two awards to recognize significant achievements in genealogy research, based on records from the National Archives.

The National Archives is known worldwide as a treasure chest of genealogical information. Each year, millions of people use Federal records in the National Archives to search for their family roots. Census schedules, ship passenger arrival lists, citizenship papers, military pension files, land patents, and court records offer detailed evidence to flesh out family histories. This competition provides an opportunity for students to share their research "treasures" with the public.

The awards are $1,000 for first place; $500 for second place. Winning articles may be published in Prologue, the quarterly magazine of the National Archives, and/or on the National Archives web site.

To be eligible, an applicant must be either an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an accredited institution of higher learning; have completed at least one semester; and have not yet advanced to candidacy, if in a Ph.D. program. An applicant does not have to be an American citizen, but must be attending an American college or university. Permanent National Archives employees are not eligible.

Awards will be announced at the National Archives annual Genealogy Fair on April 22, 2009.

Applicants are required to submit:
-- Cover sheet that includes the following:
-- Name and contact information;
-- Proof of enrollment at an accredited academic institution; and
-- Signature giving permission for the article to be published.

-- An original, unpublished work between 1,000 and 3,000 words that
demonstrates the use of National Archives holdings to conduct
genealogical research. The essay must be typed and include a
works-cited page or bibliography. End notes are suggested but not
required.


Please submit applications to:
Diane Dimkoff
Director, Customer Services Division
Room G-13
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20408
diane.dimkoff@nara.gov


Essays may be submitted in-person or via e-mail before 5:00 p.m. EST March 1, 2009 or via regular mail (postmarked by February 25, 2009).

For additional information about the scholarship and/or application process, email KYR@nara.gov.

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Ancient Papyrus Documents to be Available Online

A Duke University-led research team will use an $814,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop collaborative online editing tools for ancient documents preserved on papyrus.

The new electronic editing environment, when completed, will enable scholars –- regardless of their location -- to research, retrieve and display ancient texts, supplementary data and digital images of papyri.

The research team is led by Duke professor Joshua Sosin and university librarian Deborah Jakubs.

Sosin, associate professor of classical studies and history, co-directs the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, an online repository of ancient Greek and Latin documents preserved on papyrus, pottery and wood. The collection contains more than 50,000 published texts that can be searched electronically through the Papyrological Navigator (PN), a new interface that merges data from different scholarly projects to allow simultaneous searching of texts, translations and images. The PN, whose development was also funded by Mellon, is online at http://papyri.info.

The Mellon grant will support the integration of the Duke Databank with collections at Columbia University and the University of Heidelberg, Germany. The integration will allow researchers to search, retrieve and display Greek texts, supplementary metadata and digital images of the papyri themselves. The Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments at the University of Kentucky will be building the distributed editing system and New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World is supporting technological developments to the PN interface.

“This is yet another significant vote of confidence in the cutting-edge research of individual Duke faculty,” said Gregson Davis, Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of the Humanities in Classical Studies and dean of the humanities at Duke. “Classics departments are, and have been from the beginning, leaders in harnessing new information technology instruments and resources to the study of the past.”

Sosin said the collaborative editing environment will “vest responsibility for maintenance of core disciplinary data in the wider scholarly community, rather than a small and exclusive group of editors.

“It will also be the first step toward building a future in which scholarship in this important subfield of Classical Studies takes place entirely online,” he said. “The project’s environment should be deployable in a variety of other fields: from Latin epigraphy, or Greek, or Chinese, to manuscript studies, to numismatics, to bibliographical controls, to any domain of textual data over which a community would exert collaborative and transparent scholarly control.”

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